


Dishes

by fabricdragon



Series: John Watson: Reluctant Therapist [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: BAMF John, Canon-Typical Violence, Communication, Counseling, Established Relationship, Family Drama, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Johnlock - Freeform, Kidnapping, M/M, Relationship Problems, Relationship(s), argument, but not just in combat, estabished relationship, i guess, mormor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-16 06:46:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11248476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricdragon/pseuds/fabricdragon
Summary: John gets kidnapped by Moriarty and Moran- and gets in the middle of a domestic argument.





	Dishes

Jim Moriarty had carefully concealed the evidence for later disposal. The pattern was common enough and he was certain he could simply buy replacements before anyone noticed…

“JIM! Why are there dirty dishes in the fucking cabinet?!”

Maybe not.

“I’m a bit BUSY, Sebastian, in case you’ve forgotten?”

Sebastian stormed in, completely disregarding the prisoner blinking confusedly at them both.  _Damn, he was coming up from the drugs faster than expected._

“Good DAMN it, you were trying to get out of it weren’t you! You think I wouldn’t NOTICE?!”

“It’s not like we can’t afford to replace them, Sebie, and we have other matters to deal with.”

“You traded the garbage for the dishes, and now you’re trying to weasel out of it?”

“Can we NOT argue in front of him? Really?”

“I don’t care if he hears me; if you care so damn much then shoot him and then go wash the dishes!”

“Mmph!” Jim glanced over at the captive expecting to see panic and seeing only what looked like annoyance glaring at him over the gag.

Jim hissed, “How am I supposed to get any damned respect with you going on like an outraged housewife!”

“Me?! YOU’RE the one who gets bent out of shape if there’s a drink ring on your damned tables!”

“Mmph! Mmh!” Whatever he had to say he was getting emphatic and glaring.

Sebastian reached over and pulled the gag off of him. “What!”

John Watson coughed a few times and glared at them both, “First of all, if you’re going to bloody well kidnap me you could at least PRETEND that it’s something of a priority!”

“Yes, well, Sebastian will just have to get over–”

“Secondly, if you can’t be trusted to keep your word with your housemate, why would anyone trust you to keep your word on a hostage deal?”

Jim snarled, “Just shoot him, Sebastian!”

“Why?” The sniper crossed his arms and glared at Jim, “he’s making sense.”

Jim glared at John, “YOU are in a piss poor position to be making comments–”

“About the fact that you can’t be trusted to keep your word? I rather think it’s relevant, NOT that it surprises me.”

“What?! I always keep me word!”

“Not about the housework!” Sebastian snapped.

“DISHES, Sebastian, and I was going to replace them!”

“If a man can’t be trusted in small things,” John said firmly,” he can’t be trusted.”

“I HATE doing dishes, and you CAN’T possibly be implying that I am a less than reputable consultant!”

“You said you wouldn’t blow up the poor old lady if Sherlock solved the crime, you did–”

“She was identifying me!”

“Which is your own fault, and you still broke your word.” John raised an eyebrow at him. “And now I find out you don’t even keep your word to your housemate, AND you tried to lie to him and cover it up–”

“That’s a point,” Sebastian said slowly, “You didn’t JUST not do the dishes you tried to lie about it…”

“And that’s just what I’ve seen for myself, which certainly implies that you don’t keep your word quite a bit, if I’ve seen this much.” John finished.

“I don’t believe this! Sebie just–”

“You have the nerve to order me around after you got caught out breaking our agreement and lying about it?”

Jim stopped, “Sebie? You sound  really angry, what on earth…?”

“DAMN RGHT I’m angry!” Sebastian started by yelling and then throttled his voice back to that controlled growl that meant he was beyond furious. “The only way our relationship has a chance in HELL of working is if we’re honest about it!  If you can’t even be honest about the damned dishes, how can I trust you when you’re off with all these crazy plots?!”

“Sebie, it’s just dishes…”

“No, no its not.” John said solemnly, “it’s symptomatic of a lack of respect, either to your partner or yourself, or both.  Seriously, have you two considered counseling?”

“How could we get counseling?” Sebastian asked and at the same time Jim started swearing vehemently in some language John didn’t understand.

“I don’t know, there must be some therapist you could go to anonymously–”

“Mycroft! He would find out and that would be the end of THAT!” Jim snarled.

John blinked a lot, “you have a point.”

“I do?”

“Yeah, Mycroft is a pain in the ass and he spies on everyone, so… yeah that’s a problem.” John reflexively tried to rub his forehead and then grumbled as his hand pulled against the restraints.

“Here.” Sebastian got him a glass of water.

“If it’s all the same to you, can I have it bottled?”

“You think I’d bother poisoning you?”

“No, I think Jim doesn’t wash the dishes.”

Sebastian spun and glared at Jim, “You DID wash the glassware, right?”

“It was already clean,” Jim mumbled, “we just had water, and it’s just us.”

Sebastian turned and hurled the glass against the far wall, “Fuck this! I can’t even offer a guy a clean glass of WATER because you lied about doing the dishes?”

John cleared his throat. “Look, can we at least loosen some of these restraints, get me a bottle of water, and work this through?”

Sebastian glared at Jim, Jim glared at John, and John mostly sat there with a headache. Eventually Sebastian got a bottle of water and unlocked John’s hands.

“Okay,” John rather gratefully drank his water, “So… Jim, are you aware of the fact that by promising to do something for Sebastian, ESPECIALLY since he took over doing something else in exchange, it makes it sound like you don’t value SEBASTIAN?”

“What?”

“When two people in a relationship agree to something, and one of the people doesn’t keep to it and lies about it, it makes the other person feel like they’re being disrespected.”

Sebastian growled, “Damn right.”

“What? But that’s ridiculous, I adore Sebie!”

“Then why can’t–” Sebastian started but John held up a hand at him.

“Jim, the point is that people show love in different ways, and when you behave like this it hurts Sebastian’s feelings– he feels disrespected and taken advantage of.  You may not intend that, but it’s no different than you firing a gun at the wall and accidentally hitting him– it hurts.”

“I just hate doing the dishes, that’s all!”

“Then you need to not promise you’ll do them, or you need to do them because you promised Sebastian– even if you hate doing them.” John looked pointedly at Jim, “If you only do the things you LIKE doing, and Sebastian is left doing all the things that neither of you like to do, that’s not a very good relationship.”

“I put all the work into this and you never even BOTHER–” Sebastian was snarling. 

Jim very quietly muttered, “I’m sorry.”

Sebastian stared at him, “what did you say?”

“I said I’m SORRY, alright?! I had no idea the dishes were important!”

“It’s not the dishes, it’s the promise,” sighed John. “Seriously, it doesn’t matter what you promised to do it’s the fact that you are prioritizing your convenience over a promise to someone else. Look, if I suggest a few workbooks, and maybe a couple of other resources, will you try it? You both obviously care about each other and you’re not communicating well.”

“He won’t bother.” Sebastian said stalking over and violently sweeping at broken glass.

John looked at Jim and said quietly, “and that’s the problem, he believes you don’t CARE enough to try.”

“I CARE!” Jim shouted, “I just think all this stuff is ridiculous!”

“Then do it anyway because you care and Sebastian is worth it.” John shrugged.

“FINE!” Jim snarled and shoved a pad of paper and a pen at John. “What books?”

Sebastian looked over like he didn’t quite believe it.  John sighed and started writing titles and authors down next to the list that read: 9mm ammunition, apples, sedatives, kidnap JW, Bulgarian relay, lean on Victor, two-ply toilet paper. He handed it back, “They’re all good resources; they may not all apply to you two, though.”

Jim was just grumbling under his breath. Sebastian came over with another bottle of water. “Thanks, it’s… been rough.”

“Look, Jim? However much you hate dishes, I think it would be a good show of sincerity if you actually washed the dishes.” He kept talking over them as they started to  talk, “AND I think you need to talk about why the dishes are such a flashpoint– is it the water? The texture? The fact that it’s associated with your mother–”

Jim flinched.

Sebastian softened, “Jim?”

John cleared his throat, “I suspect that Jim wouldn’t want me to be involved in this discussion, so…”

“Go dump him somewhere, Sebastian.” Jim walked out of the room.

Sebastian sighed, “Right.” John was trying to figure out if he could manage to do something, ANYTHING, to Sebastian with his ankles still cuffed to a chair, when Sebastian continued, “I’ll take you home, Doc.  Well, I can drop you off a few blocks away, where the cameras aren’t so great.”

“I would appreciate it.”

John was blindfolded and put into a car, and driven to within a few blocks of home.  Before he got out he patted Sebastian’s shoulder– solid muscle, and John was horribly glad he hadn’t tried anything– “He does care, he’s just terrible at communicating.”

“I know… and his family was horrible.”

“Well, that’s going to come up in all sorts of things about the house.  Do try to read some of the books, and look up some books about … whatever kind of troubles either of you had before; there may be some good books on dealing with whatever.”

“You think?”

“I have a whole collection on books about kids growing up in families with alcohol abuse– turns out I have a lot of ‘typical’ issues for kids with alcoholic parents: it helps to understand where it’s coming from.”

Sebastian nodded, “Thanks Doc.”

John waved and turned away so he wouldn’t be tempted to look at the plate.  He slowly made his way back to the flat and came up to find Sherlock and Mycroft going over maps of London.

“JOHN!” Sherlock was over to him in two long strides, grabbing him by the shoulders and looking him over worriedly, “how did you get away?”

“It’s… complicated.” John sighed, “Hello Mycroft.”

“You were drugged.” Mycroft said thoughtfully.

“Yes, yes I was, and dehydrated a bit, and yelled at and I have a really horrid headache, so if you don’t mind I think I’ll just nap on the sofa a bit.”

John lay down on the sofa and tried to ignore the sniping between the two brothers. It was obvious they cared about each other but he wasn’t in the mood to deal with the two of them. Eventually Mycroft was gone and Sherlock brought him over a cup of tea and some biscuits.

“You… um… are you alright?”

“I will be; just stressful mostly, and whatever I got knocked out with.”

Sherlock looked at the kitchen and back at John. “I’ll do the dishes for tonight, then.”

John smiled, “Thank you Sherlock, you know that means a lot to me.”

“Yes, well… you put store in a lot of silly things.” Sherlock smiled briefly and went off to do the dishes.


End file.
